Walking out of the restaurant, I am still in disbelief at what major disappointment NaCl was. Having heard rave reviews about the restaurant, I have wanted to try it ever since I moved to Pittsburgh.... I guess that is probably the reason I find it harder to digest how bad the food was. I kept hoping that the next course would be better... ALAS that was not to be.
The place has a wonderful decor with community style seating and dim lighting. However reading off a chalk board is not my idea of upscale dining. The poor quality of the handwriting, with items erased & rewritten over,made reading that much harder. Though I was informed promptly by the waitress when I asked about a paper menu that I could look up the restaurant's menu on my smart phone or I could walk up to the chalk board to see better. ( WHAT????)
For a Friday night it wasn't that crowded which was wonderful. I don't think I would be particularly fond of having some stranger sit extremely close to me & have to talk over their conversation to be heard by my dinner companion.
We started off our dinner with cocktails. I had the sparkling negroni containing moscato wine, which was strictly ok. It started off sweet but left a bitter taste at the end. The hubby got the rum cocktail which was nothing to right home about.
For starters we got the beef tartar & the sashimi. I think the sashimi was probably a little more flavorful than the tartar which didn't have too much flavor wise. For our main courses we got the barmundi(seabass) & beef. The barmundj was decent... Other than having some salt,it was pretty flavorless. The shallots were the best part of this dish for me. The beef was well seasoned & perfectly cooked.... The best meal of the night... Though I have eaten better at less steep prices.
For Dessert we got the millionaire's shortbread... Or should I just saythe Salt Ball instead... Coz That's what it was. Salty peanuts & salty pretzels over a salty peanut Carmel base. The Result: an inedible plate of Salt concoction.
I truly wanted to love this place but unfortunately true to its name, all I walked out of the restaurant with,was only the overpowering taste of NACL.